Agricultural History Review, Volume 66 Part 1 (2018), p. 155

Studies of particular communities, places or landscapes run the risk of being inward-looking, ‘parochial’, and of little interest to people outside that locality, but Patricia Croot’s study of farming communities on the Somerset wetlands is an excellent example of how that problem can be avoided. Croot’s Introduction (Chapter 1) sets the scene extremely well, outlining how this is a case study of an important, but neglected, phenomenon: an early modern rural society which demonstrates the importance and dynamic nature of small-scale farming in the development of a capitalist economy. There is an account of the historiography that places this study in its wider context – including the ‘Brenner debate’ over the transition from feudalism to capitalism – and the issues associated with which are returned to in the conclusions (Chapter 7).

This is not, however, just a study of agricultural economics. In Chapter 2 Croot explores the landscape itself including its natural wetland resources, the important common meadows and pastures, access to local markets, and the wide range of craft activities that were also undertaken. The Somerset Levels are an extensive reclaimed wetland next to the Severn Estuary in south-west England, and represent a hand-crafted landscape that – were it not for a complex system of drainage channels and embankments – would be regularly flooded by both inland rivers and the sea. During the early modern period a strongly market-oriented economy developed and, rather than these small-scale farmers being at a subsistence level, they were successful business people who exploited their landscape’s natural potential and good access to nearby towns such as Bristol, Bridgwater, and Taunton.

Patterns of landholding and inheritance are then explored in Chapter 3, with the switch from customary tenure to leasehold for a certain number (usually three) lives being particularly important. Chapter 4 explores the different ways that farmers made a living from the land. Dairying was the dominant land use, but this was complemented by a wide range of other farming strategies including the growing of beans and keeping of pigs, alongside some arable including the cultivation of teasels which can tolerate poor wet soils. The rich wetland pastures attracted more distant landowners who bought up some of the land in order to fatten livestock. Farm sizes and incomes are also explored. Chapter 5 looks at family structures and inheritance practices, showing, for example, that, while testators could not share out the land belonging to one tenement, where they owned more than one landholding these were distributed amongst their children (something that was a factor in the multiplicity of small holdings that characterized this landscape). Chapter 6 discusses wealth, society, and national politics, showing how the weak manorial structure contributed to local communities’ sense of independence and self-determination.

This study is extremely well written, well structured and engaging, but it has one weakness: there are just three illustrations that together do nothing more than show the location of the study area, its parishes and major settlements within it. Apart from the cover image there are no photos to help the reader understand the character of this landscape – such is its water-filled drainage ditches lined with pollarded willows – or more detailed maps showing the intimate relationships between the diverse settlement patterns, field systems and common pastures. A relatively small number of photographs and maps would have brought this landscape to life, and help readers who have never been there to appreciate its visual and historical qualities.

Overall, however, this is an excellent study of a landscape and society dominated by small-scale farmers. It presents a fascinating counterbalance of the world of the great estates that dominated Midland England, and the author shows convincingly that major landlords played a relatively small part in shaping the landscape and economy of this area.